Wednesday, August 31, 2005

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Constitution

Our own sorta superhero, Captain Brylcreem, a.k.a. Governor Mitt Romney, dirtied two pages of paper today. He sent a letter to Attorney General Tom Reilly urging him to certify a probably unconstitutional ballot question on same-sex marriage by the September 7th deadline.

I write to urge you in the strongest possible terms to certify for submission to the people the ... petition. No matter how one feels about same-sex marriage, we should all agree that the commonwealth's citizens should not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to society as the legal definition of marriage.

It's not like he's running for POTUS or anything. Oh, wait, yes, he likely is.

The 2008 DoMA-style question needs Reilly's certification to begin the signature-gathering process. Check an earlier post for its tortured history.

In a huge slap at both the letter and the spirit of the commonwealth's constitution, he urges pig piling on anti-same-sex-marriage ballot question on another. This is specifically forbidden by law here, not that bothers the Cap'n.

Parroting the verbiage of the reality deniers and haters, he wrote:

At base, the proposed petition should be certified because it addresses a matter of paramount importance to the citizens of Massachusetts. Marriage is a fundamental social institution bearing a direct relation to the health and enduring strength of our society. To silence the voice of the people on a question of such great consequence would be a profound injustice.

The citizens of the commonwealth should not be denied meaningful participation in the legal definition of marriage.

Meanwhile, the 2006 question is in its final skirmishes. If it wins a vote (unlikely) on September 14th, it would go to voters. That one would replace homosexual marriages with civil unions, but not disturb the existing same-sex marriages. The new one would forbid same-sex marriages entirely.

His situational ethics are what Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political caucus, nails. The AP quotes her as saying,"The legal arguments against certification are very strong and very compelling. Romney is playing a political game here, not a legal one."

This can do nothing but backfire on our Captain. Law? We don't need no stinking laws that we don't like. That can't play well with those thinking about their next President.